This document discusses the history of collaboration in creative works. It describes how James Watt improved the steam engine in the late 1700s, making it more widely available and allowing others to further develop it. Similarly, in the early internet, websites like Hotwired openly published specifications and source code, enabling improvements. The document contrasts this open approach with those who seek to aggressively monopolize innovations through patents. It argues collaborative knowledge goods allow everyone to benefit from copies of the whole work.

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Collaborative creativity and the
test of time
iSummit08
Sapporo, Japan
July 31, 2008
Rishab Aiyer Ghosh
United Nations University – MERIT
Collaborative Creativity Group

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Collaboration in history
James Watt, Lean's Reporter and the Cornish Pumping Engine

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James Watt
?

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James Watt
James Watt's improved steam engine... was the key
innovation that brought forth the Industrial
Revolution. ... it gave us the modern world. A key
feature of it was that it brought the engine out of the
remote coal fields into factories where many
mechanics, engineers, and even tinkerers were
exposed to its virtues and limitations. It was a
platform for generations of inventive men to
improve.
--Wikipedia

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James Watt
Lobbied for an Act of Parliament to extend his patent's
lifetime to thirty-one years
Drove the inventor of a superior engine to bankruptcy
(Hornblower)
Blocked innovation in steam engines – and steam
engine sales – throughout the life-time of his patent
When his patent ended, Cornwall – one of the biggest
markets – boycotted his company, in protest at his
former aggressive monopoly... sounds familiar?

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James Watt
“Duty” or efficiency of steam engines
Nuvolari,A,2005.“Opensourcesoftwaredevelopment:Somehistoricalperspectives”.FirstMonday,10:10

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1811 Lean's Reporter
Monthly journal published by Cornish
miners – the main user-developers of
steam engines
Published the full specifications of each
improved engine, so they could be copied
Improvements, performance skyrocketed
New inventors (Trevithick, Woolf...) avoided
patents, releasing specifications publicly

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185 years later...
Software published by user-developers of
major innovative websites (Hotwired etc)
Publish full specifications – source code – of
each improved version
Improvements, performance – and market
share – skyrockets
Many new inventors avoid patenting
(proprietary copyrighting), releasing source
code as free software

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Web server market share
Source:NetcraftWebServerSurvey,May2005-www.netcraft.com

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195 years later...
And IBM, Sun, etc release free software
(Sadly, some never learn,
and monopolistic practices still exist)

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Barter

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Barter
<
Profit
>
Profit

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Purchase
$1
$2

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Purchase
$1
$2
< $2
Profit
$1 <Profit
> $2
Profit
$1 >Profit

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Cooking-pot (easier to draw a cloud)

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Cooking-pot (easier to draw a cloud)
<
Profit

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How to divide the pot?

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Digital fish!
With knowledge goods, everyone gets a copy of the whole pot
1010
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1010
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0101

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Altruism or self-interest?

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A Hobbesian view?

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Value: even without prices
● Existing FLOSS code – if a company were
to recreate it, this would cost:
– Euro 12 billion (substitution cost, till 2005)
– 163 thousand person-years
– Euro 100 billion (till 2010)
● Doubling in size every 18-24 months

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The concept is old...

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This scale is new...

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Exciting novelty of collaboration
CODE: Collaborative
Ownership and the
Digital Economy
MIT Press, 2005
Rishab A. Ghosh, ed.
Philippe Aigrain, Yochai Benkler,
Boatema Boateng, David Bollier,
James Boyle, John Clippinger,
Paul David, Cori Hayden, Tim
Hubbard, Chris Kelty, James
Leach, James Love, Fred Myers,
Anthony Seeger, Richard
Stallman, Marilyn Strathern

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Thank you
Rishab Aiyer Ghosh
ghosh@merit.unu.edu
UNU-MERIT
Collaborative Creativity Group
ccg.merit.unu.edu